By Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report-Lagos * AirAsia jet, carrying 162 people, presumed crashed * Multinational search is focused in Java Sea * Pilot sought to change course, no distress signal sent * AirAsia group has never had a crash before (Adds China sending a warship) A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said on Monday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search. The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed…
Author: orientalnewsng
By Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi The use of energy efficient bulbs and judicious power consumption can save the country N400bn, the Federal Government has said. Government explained that if Nigerians embrace the use of energy efficient lightings, the country would have over 1,000 megawatts of electricity available for other purposes, adding that efficient consumption of electricity by switching off appliances that were not in use at any given time would also make power available for other better uses. The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said it would cost the country about $2bn to build a power plant that would produce…
Yemisi Izuora-Lagos The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the post-devaluation band for the naira is “appropriately priced”, but black marketers on the street are trading it at between three and five per cent below its floor in the run-up to Christmas. According to reports, despite an eight per cent devaluation of the target band and efforts last week to crack down on currency speculation by squeezing liquidity, the naira remains at record lows. But while the CBN and the interbank markets argue over the naira’s fair value, it’s harder to argue with the price on the streets where…
Source-Nation Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric (IE) (formerly Ikeja Electricity Distribution (IKEDC), Engr. Abiodun Ajifowobaje, has said the country’s transition to uninterrupted power supply is work in progress. He expressed confidence that the advent of privatisation in the power sector will deliver the expected dividend. Ajifowobaje who spoke with The Nation, however cautioned Nigerians that they should not be unmindful of the time it will take the country to reach the desired levels of gas availability, infrastructure, human capital and financial backing, which are all critical ingredients for a complete transformation of the sector. According to him, so far,…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Continental Resources has announced a revised 2015 non-acquisition capital expenditures budget of $2.7 billion. This level of activity is projected to yield 16 percent to 20 percent production growth in 2015 compared to estimated 2014 production. Harold G. Hamm, chairman and chief executive officer, commented, “This revised budget prudently aligns our capital expenditures to lower commodity prices, targeting cash flow neutrality by mid-year 2015. This budget also maintains our financial flexibility and strong balance sheet while continuing to grow production in our core Bakken and SCOOP plays. The depth and quality of our asset base coupled with…
By Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report-Lagos Highlights * Plane sought to change course because of bad weather * No distress signal was sent – Indonesian official * Most passengers were Indonesian * AirAsia group has never had a crash Indonesia’s air force was searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that went missing on Sunday after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. (2317 GMT), officials said. “The aircraft was…
By Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi-Lagos Major oil companies may find 2015 a more difficult year to do business just as Rating Agencies expresses concern about their capability to sustain their envisaged growth vision. The sudden fall in the price of crude oil, from $120 to just $60 a barrel in six months, is reportedly the biggest economic shock of 2014 and the fallout is expected to be profound and long-lasting, especially for the oil majors. Standards & Poor (S& P) had outlined three key concerns around a group of the industry’s biggest European producers which include Shell, Total, BP, Eni and…
Source-Thisday Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) were mixed in the third quarter of the year with the total volume of traded securities for the period put at 26.8billion shares, representing 11.4 per cent rise. Similarly, the value of traded securities was said to have increased by 48 per cent to N441.25 billion in 312,482 deals in the review period, compared with 24 billion shares, valued at N298.19 deals in the preceding quarter. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Economic Report for the third quarter of the year, which was made available last week, the Financial Services Industry…
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By Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi-Lagos Oil prices have plummeted lately, bringing economic relief to consumers but leaner revenues to oil-exporting nations such as Russia, Venezuela, and Nigeria. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) debated cutting production, but leading exporter Saudi Arabia staunchly refuses to lower their production–no matter how low the oil price falls. OPEC operates as a cartel to maximize profits for all the major oil-producing nations. They work in partnership to increase production when demand is high and decrease it when the oil price falls too low to turn a profit but Saudi Arabia–which is world’s leading…